Welcome to inspired marketing.

Marketing. Everybody needs it. Most want it. But few understand how it works. We do.

We're Novel Idea. We offer a unique approach to marketing, advertising, and graphic design. You see, lots of marketing firms will tell you that you need to throw a lot of money at a problem in order to solve it. Nonsense. Certainly, it takes money to make money, but we believe that captain of industry John Wannamaker spoke for most marketing customers when he famously said, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted...problem is, I don't know which half." We think there's a better way.

You've probably heard the expression "Work smarter...not harder." We agree. And we do, for every one of our customers. We believe in delivering the biggest bang for your marketing buck, so we work diligently to under-promise and over-deliver, bringing projects in on-time and under-budget.

In the age of 500 channels, DVRs, social media, and fragmented audiences, you need a firm that can guide you through the treacherous waters of market strategies, brand management, advertising design, and media buying. You need someone with both market experience and fresh approaches that use media and marketing to your biggest advantage. In short, you need a novel idea.

We're here to help. Get in touch today, and we'll set up a time to discuss how we can craft a customized plan to solve your marketing, advertising, and graphic design challenges, and give you a body of work that won't cost an arm and a leg.

Novel idea. Inspired marketing.

The blog…

I've been a graphic artist, writer, and marketer for a long time. I've seen the industry go from phototypesetting, matte boards and waxers to digital presses and virtual proofing in a little under a decade. 20 years ago, most of my business was in print design, with just a smattering of work online. Today, I count myself lucky (and a bit nostalgic) if I get to do anything in print past a business card. In that same period of time, websites have evolved, too. And I think it's worth talking about, both so we can see where we've been/where we're going, and more importantly why we're heading in a particular direction.
In the beginning, there was text. The original World Wide Web looked like an even uglier version of the DrudgeReport.com site. No pictures. Ugly typography. Just data. But it worked. And people could see the potential. You can kind of think of this as the web in beta form – it really wasn't ready for public consumption...just a "proof of concept" bunch of technologies thrown together. The only tools for building sites back then were things like Windows Notepad, and everything was custom-built...and hard-coded.
Before very long, images became an important factor ...

“Any sufficiently advanced technology
is indistinguishable from magic.”
– Arthur C. Clarke
Marketing. Sometimes it all seems like magic, and marketers look and act like magicians. But like a lot of things, marketing comes down to common sense. (It only appears to be magic to the uninitiated.) So let’s start at the beginning, and see if we can demystify the basics of marketing, so you can see clearly what needs to be done for your business.
It’s all in a name.
Your company name is possibly the most important decision you’ll ever make about your business. Names tell customers and prospects not only who you are but a lot more about your firm than you might think. Look at it this way – take two products…let’s say “Janitor in a Drum” and “Summer’s Eve.” The first is an industrial-strength cleaner, the other is a feminine hygiene product. But what if the names were reversed? I doubt seriously that you’d trust an industrial cleaner to work well, called “Summer’s Eve.” And you wouldn’t let a feminine hygiene product called “Janitor in a Drum” anywhere near you. Names mean things. Picking a good one is essential.
So what’s a good name? A good name needs to be memorable. ...

Our latest novel ideas…

Our latest video project is a title card for our buddy Evan Sayet to promote his upcoming standup comedy tour. If you've not heard Evan's comedy, you need to. One of the few Conservative comedians working, Evan's take on politics is nothing short of brilliant. He's developed a "unified field theory" on why Liberals think and act the way they do. And his analysis is dead on the money. You can visit his site and ...

Just launched, an all-new website for our client, CommunicApp, complete with an animated demo we wrote, designed, animated and voiced, using kinetic typography. The animated demo was something of a challenge. We couldn't create a demo using a lot of screen shots, or create a test version of the app, because there would be no way to protect it...essentially giving the product away for free. Instead, we chose to communicate the value proposition, and explain ...

Websites are not static things. They are most effective when they are constantly in a state of flux – evolving, changing, and staying current. Many websites fail at that task. Far too many people believe that once you launch, you're done. Fortunately, we are blessed with some great clients that see the wisdom in updating their sites. This is one such project. Karen Friedman Enterprises is a firm that has an impressive client list, and ...

Redesigning an existing website carries with it some unique challenges that are usually not found when creating a new site, from the ground up. Whereas on a new site, there's no track record of user data from which you can infer, analyze, and project, a redesign project has some established data sets that provide insight you can't get from a new site project. On the other hand, in a way, a redesign project carries with ...

We're often called upon to redesign work created by someone else. In this case, it was a brochure to promote an arts magnet high school. The previous design was created in Illustrator, as individual pages. Illustrator is not well-suited to this kind of project. InDesign is. Because there were so many changes needed to the old design, we persuaded the clients to allow us to do a complete redesign.